Electrical regulator.



A. A; TIRRILL.

ELECTRICAL REGULATOR.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 33, I914.

Patented; July 20, 1915,

2 SHEETS-SHEET i- Fig. 2.

. INVEYIETORI l IZI: 6 a I I I I U 5 ATTORNEY A. A. URRHL ELECTRICAL REGULATOR.

APPLICATION man mm. 3.19%.

iatemed M 20, 1915.

' 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

' ENVENTOR 4i k /64300 I"; L l l UNITED STATES PATENT onrion.

ALLEN A. TIRRILIJ, OF. PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO WESTINGHOUSE-' ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING COMPANY, A' CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA?- ELECTRICAL REGULATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented J uly 20, 1915.

Application m March 3, 1914. Serial mfszaiaa To all whom it may concern:

Be it' known that I, ALLEN A. TIRRILL, a citizen of the UnitedfStates, and a resident of Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny 8 1d Sta e of Pennsylvania, have invented a new an useful Improvement in Electrical Regulators, of which the following 1s a.

specification.

My invention relates to electrical -regu-' lators, and particularly to those in which the voltage of a generator is regulated by opening and closing a shunt to a resistance included in series with the field of the exciter for the generator.

The object of-my invention is to'provide a regulator of the character indicated that shall be exceptionally effective, accurate and when employed in connection with a generator.

The regulator comprises a cast metal base "1 that is provided upon its rear with threaded studs 2 bymeans of which it may be se- Qcured'to a panel (not shown) or any other suitable support, and that is also provided upon its front face with brackets 3 and l. Pivotally mounted in the bracket 8 is a bell crank lever 5, one arm of which is substantially horizontal and the other substantially vertical arm of which is bifurcated at its lower end. The bifurcations of the lever 5 are provided with screws 6 and 6 that are adapted to engage opposite faces of a plate spring 7 that is mounted between the bifurcations or arms of a stationary mg or post 8. The said parts constitute resilient means to limit the movements of the lever 5, for reasons which will. be hereinafter fully explained, the limits of the movement being determined by adjustment of the screws 6 and 6?. A spring 9 serves. to normally draw the vertical arm of the lever 5 toward the right. The horizontal arm of the lever 5 is also forked or bifurcated, and is provided with bearings for the pivot pins 10 of another bell crank lever 11, 'one arm of which is curved and somewhat inclined and is provided, near its free end, with a screw 12 that constitutes ,a contact terminal adapted-- to engage-and disengage a" corresponding opposite contact terminal 13. The contact terminal 13 is'carried by aplate spring 14 that is mounted upon a stud 15 carried by the base 1. The movements of the contact terminals are limited by means of screws 16' and 17 that are threaded in a bifurcated stationary support 18. One arm of the lever 11 is substantially vertical and comprises a magnetizable core 20, the lower end of which is operatively connected to the piston of a dash pot 21. The lower end of the core member 20 is surrounded by a coil 22 that is mounted in curved brackets 23 carried by the base 1. hen the coil 22 is energized,

the core 20 is drawn downwardly, thereby causing the lever 5 to rotateabout its fulcrum and'also causing the contact members 12 and 13 to disengage. When, however, the coil 22 is denergizedor is not suffi ciently energized, the spring 9 overcomes the pull of the coil upon the core 20 and the contact terminals 12 'and 18 are caused ,to

engage.

The substantially vertical arm of the lever 11 and the coil 22 are surrounded by a frame or yoke 25 that is pivotally mounted, near its upper-end, in the bracket 4, and to the lower endof which the cylinder of the dash pot 21 issecurecl, the pivot of the said frame being normally substantially in alinement with the. pivot of the lever ll. The upper end of the frame 25 is attached to a substantially horizontal lever 26 from one end of which a core member 27 is suspended, a clash pot 28 being employed for the purpose of damping the movements of the core member and the. lever 26. At the opposite end of the lever 26 an adjustable counter-weight 29 is suspended, a spring 30 being interposed between the counter-weight and the lever, and a guide 31 being provided at the lower end of the counterweight for preventing its swinging. The counterweight 29 only par.- tially balances the weight of the parts upon the opposite side of the fulcrum of the lever '26.

The upper end o'f the core'meinber 27 is I surrounded by a coil that comprises twowindings 32 and 33 respectively, the former composed of comparatively fine wire and the other of comparatively heavy wire. As the pull exerted by the windings 32 and 33 upon the core member'varies, the' bell crank lever, composed of the members 25 and 26, is rotated about its pivot, and the bell crank lever 11 is correspondingly rotated by reason of the connection therewith of the frame 25 through the dash pot 21. Consequently, the distance between the contact terminals 12 and 13 varies with the degree of pull exerted by the coils 32 and 33 upon the core member '27. The number of effective turns of the winding 33 may be adjusted by means of two rotatable arms 34 and 35 that are pivotally mounted upon a small panel carried by the same supports as carry the coils, the arm 34 being employed for adjusting the number of turns in the outer layer, and the arm 35 for adjusting the number of layers in the coil.

A system in connection with which the regulator may be conveniently employed is shown in Fig. 5, in which a generator supplies current to bus bars 41 to which any suitable number of lighting, or other distributing circuits, may be connected such as that shown at 42. The generator 40 is provided with a field magnet winding 43 that is supplied from exciter bus bars 44 to which current is in turn supplied from an exciter 45 having a shunt field magnet winding 46 in series with which is a rheo'stat 47. The winding 32 is supplied with current from a potential transformer 48, the primary winding of which is connected to the bus bars'41 in such a manner that the current supplied to the said coil will vary With the potential of the bus bars. The winding 33 is supplied with current from a series transformer 49, the primary winding of which is connected in series with one of the conductors of the distributing circuit 42. The coil 22 is supplied with current from another potential transformer 50 that is also connected to the main bus bars 41. The circuit including the coil 22 and the secondary winding of the transformer 50 is adapted to be periodically. opened and closed by means of a relay 51 having contact terminals 52 and 53. The relay 51 has-an energizing winding 54 that is supplied with current from the exciter bus bars 44 and is adapted to vibrate the contact terminals 52 and 53 into and out of engagement; A circuit in shunt to the eX- citer field rheostat 47 is openedand closed by means of contact terminals 55 and 56 of a relay 57 that is similar to the relay 51 and is provided with an energizing coil 58 that also receives current from the exciter bus bars. The contact terminals 12 and 13 are respectively connected to the terminals of the coils 54 and 58 of the relays 51 and 57 so that the engagement and disengagement of the said contacts serve to close and open a shunt circuit to the said relay coils.

If, in the operation of the device, the contact terminals 12 and 13 are not in engagement, the relay coils 54 and 53 are fully energized and thus cause the relay contact terminals to disengage. Upon disengagement of the terminals 52 and 53 the circuit of the coil 22 is opened and the core member 20 is moved upwardly by the spring 9- and causes the contact terminals 12 and 13 to engage. Upon engagement of the contact terminals 12 and 13, the relay coils 54 and 58 are shunted and the relay contact members thereupon engage. Engagement of the contact terminals 52 and 53 establishes the circuit of the coil 22 which thereupon attracts the core member 20 and the contact terminals 12 and 13 disengage. Engagement of the contact terminals 55 and 56 of the relay 57 results in shunting the .exciter field rheostat, while disengagement thereof results in removing the said shunt. The effective resistance in the exciter'field circuit depends upon the relation of the periods of engagement to the periods of disengagement of the contact terminals 55 and 56, and the exciter and generator field strengths and voltages likewise depend thereon. This relation of the periods of engagement and disengagement is determined by the voltage of the generator or of the main bus bars and by the current delivered to the distributing Circuit 42, since the initial distance between the contact terminals 12 and 13 depends upon the degree of pull exerted thereby upon the core member 27. Thus, it will be seen that the coil 22 serves to cause the contact terminals 12 and 13 to engage and disengage, while the coils 32 and 33 vary the initial distance between the said terminals so as to obtain varying periods of engagement and disengagement. The coil 33 is' arranged to act in opposition to the coil 32 in order to *compensate for drop in voltage in the distributing circuit, that is, so that the voltage at the distant end of the distributing circuit may be properly maintained.

The movements of the lever 5 are limited by the spring 7 for the purpose of permitting of readily cutting the regulator in and out of service,-.which is accomplished by de-- creasing the actual value of the resistance 47 in the exciter field circuit. It will be understood that the resistance 47 normally has an actual value in excess of that which would cause the generator voltage to assume its normal value. fective value of the said resistance is determined by opening and closing a shunt cir- This is because the ef-' cuit thereto and is, accordingly, less thanits actual value. In order to cut the regulator out of service, the actual value of the resistance 47 should be reduce to correspend with its effective value when the genorator voltage is normal. The effect of reducing the actual value of the said resistance is to cause atendency-ofbeth the.

exciter and generator voltages'to1increase,the

members 12 and 13 to engage.

22 cannot then be energized and the regu-' members continue to vibrateinto andoutof; On account of .thetendency iof the generator-voltage to increase, the coil engagement.

32 tends to cause thecontact members 12 and 1 3 toseparate-fwith the result that the periods of disengagement of said membersbecome longer than the periods of engagement, and also that the relay contactmemmating the said thirdl-levenl 4; An electrical re operating :contact members, a I be l-cran lever carrying one of .said vmembers,and having-a s dependi'n'garm, another lever. uponwhich the aforesaidlever is fulcrumed, a.

windin for actuating the said levers to cause-it is contact members to engage and bers 52-53 and 55-556 engage for shorter periods and disengage for longer periods.-

The'coil 22 is,- consequently, energized. for shorter periods and'the spring -9 tends to cause the contact member 12 to engage the member 13 and the screw-6 to approach the spring 7. As the resistance 47 isreduced.

in value the screw 6 finally engages the spring 7, which thereupon opposes the spring 9 and ultimately prevents it from causing the The coil la'tor ceases to operate. It may then be cut out of service. When the spring 7 is engaged by the screw 6*, it assists the spring. 9 in causing engagement of the contact terminals12 and 13. The screws Sand 6 are. I

disengage, a third lever. connected to the depending arm of the contact-carrying le-.

ver and adaptedto -vary the distance between the contact"; members, the fulcrum of the saidthi'rd' lever being substantially; in alinement with that of the contact-carrymg lever, and a winding for actuating the said third leverilator'com ri co Q 5.. An electricalregulatorcomprising coop erating contact members, a, bell-crank leing adepending arm, another lever upon '85 ver carrying one of said members and havwhich .the aforesaidylever isfulcrumed, a

winding for actuating the saidlevers to cause the contact members to engage and so adjusted that only very slight variationsin the voltage can occur under widely different conditions of operation.

I claim as my invention:

1. An electrical regulator comprising cooperating contact members, an arm actuating one of said members, a lever upon which the said arm is fulcrumed, a winding'for actuating the said arm and lever to cause the contact members to engage and disengage, a second lever for. actuating the contact actuating arm to vary the distance between the contact members, and a winding for actuating thesaid second lever.

2. An electrical regulator comprising cooperating contact members, an arm actuat ing one of said members, a lever upon which the said arm is fulcrumed, a winding for actuating the said arm and lever to cause the contact members to engage and disengage, a second lever for actuating the contact actuating arm to vary the distance between the COIltflCQ IIIQIIlbBIS, the fulcrum of the said second lever-being substantially .in alinement with that of the contact actuating arm, and a winding for actuating the said second lever.

3. An electrical regulator comprising 00- operating contact members, a bell-crank lever for actuating one ofthe said members and having a depending arm, another lever upon which the aforesaid lever is fulcrumed, a winding for actuating said levers to cause the contact members to engage and disendisengage, a thirdlever having a depending arm'in the form-0f a" yoke that surrounds the. :sa'id'windin g and engages the depending arm of the contact-carrying lever, and a winding for actuatingthe said thirdlever.

6. An electricalregulator comprisin .00-

' =opera'ting contact members, a bell-cran lever carrying'oneof said members and hav 1 ing a depending armfldhother lever upon which the aforesaid lever is, fulcrumed, a windin for actuating the said levers to cause t e contact members to .engage and disengage, athird lever havinga depending arm in the form of a yoke'that su'rrounds the said winding and engages the depending arm of the contact-carrying lever,

the fulcrum of the said third lever being substantially in alinement with that of the contact-carrying lever, and a winding for actuating the said third lever.

7. An electrical regulator comprising cooperating cont'actmembers, a bell-crank lever carrying one of said members and having 'a depending arm provided with a magnetizable core, another lever upon which the aforesaid lever is fulcrumed, a coil surrounding the said magnetizable core, a third lever also'having a depending arm that engages the dependingarm of the contactwcarrying lever, and a winding for actuating the said third lever.

8. An electrical regulator comprising cooperating contact members, a bell-crank lever carrying one of said members, another lever upon which the aforesaid lever is fulcrumed, means for resiliently limiting the movements of the latter lever, a winding for actuating the sald levers to'cause' the contact members to engage and disengage, a

third lever for actuating the contact carrying lever to vary the distance between the contact members, and a winding for actuatmg the said third lever.

9. The comblnation with a dynamo-electric machine, of a regulator therefor commeans for causing the said winding to be intermittently energized,'a third lever for actuating the contact-carrying lever, and a winding for actuating the said third lever in response to variations of an electrical condition of the dynamo-electric machine.

10. An electrical regulator comprising cooperating contact members, an electromag net and resilient means adapted to cause said members to engage and disengage, resilient means for limiting the relative movements of the contact members in both directions, and means for varying the initial distance between the contact members.

11. An electrical regulator comprising cooperating contact members, an electromagnet and resilient means adapted. to cause said members to engage and disengage, resilient means for limiting the relative movements of the contact members, and means for varying the initial distance between the contact members.

12. An electrical regulator comprising cooperating contact members, a lever actuating one of said members, an electromagnet and resilient means for vibrating said. lever to cause the said members to engage and disengage, resilient means for limiting in both directions the relative movements of the contact members caused by said clectromagnet and resilient means, and means for adjusting means, and means for adjusting the position.

of the said lever to vary the initial distance between the contact members.

l l. An electrical regulator comprising cooperating contact members, an electromagnet and resilient means adapted to cause said members to engage and disengage, resilient means for limiting relative movements of the contact members caused by the aforesaid resilient means, and means for varying the initial distance between the contact mem bers.

. 15. An electrical regulator comprising cooperating contact members, an electromagnet and resilient means adapted to cause said members to engage and disengage, the said members controlling the energization of the electromagnet, resilient means for limiting the relative movements of the contact members, and means for varying the initial distance between the contact members.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 20th day of Feb, 1914.

ALLEN A. TIRRILL.

\Vitnesses Orro S. 'SCHAIRER,

B. B. HINEs.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

